


Hey, Operator

by Stiltzkin



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 22:56:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12467828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stiltzkin/pseuds/Stiltzkin
Summary: A re-vamped Frankie Charles, AKA Operator, joins the Batgirl of Burnside on her first official mission in the field. 10-page comic book script.





	Hey, Operator

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a short script I wrote as a part of my warm-up ritual, featuring the Batgirl of Burnside and her stalwart companion, Frankie. Forgive me, but I haven't been able to keep up with comics as of late, and I'm not sure of what Ms. Charles' current role is in the post Stewart/Fletcher/Tarr books, but if she's not out in the streets kicking butt they're doing it wrong.
> 
> THE RULES:  
> For those who are new to illustrating comics: the rules are simple. Read the whole ten-page script. Outline and illustrate based on how you feel the story is best told. The panel counts and even the descriptions of the panels are only suggestions. The writer’s job is to give you the story to tell. Therefore you are the story teller. It’s only polite to stick to the dialog as closely as possible, but most writers can’t even draw stick figures, so the layout of the actual comic falls to your expertise. Go get ‘em.
> 
> I would love to see as many takes on this script as possible, so I would be grateful to those who are willing to share this script in order for it to be seen by artists far and wide. I would appreciate writing credits, of course, but the rest of your work is yours to do with as you please. I also ask that you PLEASE TAG ME or otherwise LET ME KNOW if you post your illustrations online so that I can then ooh and awe.
> 
> If you’re looking to get into comic book illustration, or are just bored and need something to mess around with before your own inspiration takes over and leads you to make your own art: this is as good a place as any to start. This goes to writers too. Do not be afraid to post fan scripts online. Everyone needs practice, and it could lead to exciting collaborations. Feel free to share any questions or comments. Thank you.

**PAGE ONE** (Six Panels)

Panel 1. Interior warehouse. Batgirl, clad in her ever-stylish bat-themed ensemble; and Operator, clad in a hoodie and several multi-purpose cybernetic enhancements: including bulky gauntlets, backpack that converts into a small robot, and ever-important leg braces; lurk in the foreground behind some industrial barrels as they watch Killer Frost command her henchmen. I know Frost's kind of an independent homicidal maniac nutjob who don't need no hench-man, but this is only a hypothetical story that will probably never be illustrated, so mind your biscuits.

BATGIRL:  
I think we finally found Killer Frost's lair.

OPERATOR:  
What gave it away? The freezing cold or the fact that she's literally right in front of us?

BATGIRL:  
Don't question the super sleuth.

Panel 2. Operator wraps her arms around herself to stay warm and restrain her shivering from drawing unwanted attention. Batgirl pulls a stick of lip balm out of her utility belt.

OPERATOR:  
Man, it's so friggin' cold my lips are chapped.

BATGIRL:  
Here, I have something for that.

Panel 3. Close up. Operator holds the closed stick of lip balm in front of her face and scowls at it and its patented bat motif.

Panel 4. Batgirl looks concerned.

BATGIRL:  
What?

Panel 5. Close up. Operator continues to scowl, only this time it's directed forward at the camera.

Panel 6. Batgirl lowers her head and fidgets nervously.

BATGIRL:  
Never mind. Your eyes say it all.

**PAGE TWO** (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Operator applies the balm and raises an eyebrow to Batgirl, who simply shrugs.

OPERATOR:  
Does Bat-MAN carry around a tube of lip balm too, or just Bat-GIRL?

BATGIRL:  
Presumably? I guess? Why not?

Panel 2. Exterior. Gotham City. The Batman looms atop a gargoyle and surveys his city with a brooding scowl. Such is the severity of his brooding scowl that it can easily be conveyed through his brooding cowl, which is itself designed to convey both brooding and scowling because it is a mask and the whole point of a mask is to hide your face regardless of its expression.

BATMAN (Caption):  
“Somewhere, even now, Scarecrow is preparing his most recent batch of fear toxin.”

BATMAN (Caption):  
“Any slip up on my part could cost thousands of lives.”

BATMAN (Caption):  
“There's no time to be distracted by trivial aches and pains.”

Panel 3. Extreme close-up profile view of Batman's gritted teeth as he juts his jaw forward and applies lip balm to his lower lip.

BATMAN (Caption):  
“Thankfully...”

BATMAN (Caption):  
“I came prepared.”

Panel 4. Low angle of Batman leaping from the gargoyle with his cape flared out dramatically behind him as lightning strikes in the distance. His lips have a distinctly glossy sheen.

BATMAN (Caption):  
“I am the night.”

BATMAN (Caption):  
“Woosh!”

Panel 5. Back to Batgirl stroking her chin in thought.

OPERATOR:  
Really? The Batman says, “Woosh?”

BATGIRL:  
I think? But only in his head.

**PAGE THREE** (Four Panels)

Panel 1. Batgirl and Operator turn face to face with their backs to the camera. Between them, in the background, Killer Frost looks over her shoulders and is surprised to see two figures lurking in the shadows. Wow, ladies, it's time to step up your lurking game.

BATGIRL:  
Point is: You're not questioning the lip balm anymore.

OPERATOR:  
I assume his sparkles too.

BATGIRL:  
We all have our vices.

OPERATOR:  
Superman doesn't have vices. He's Superman.

BATGIRL:  
Uh, duh-hoy. Yeah, he does.

Panel 2. Exterior. Batman crouches atop a building, ever the picture of disgruntled vigilantism, as Superman hovers in the air beside him with his arms folded. They both look out over the city.

SUPERMAN:  
Hi there, Bruce.

BATMAN:  
Clark.

SUPERMAN:  
Chilly tonight, isn't it?

Panel 3. Batman hands Superman his lip balm from off panel.

BATMAN (OP):  
Here.

SUPERMAN:  
Thank you.

Panel 4. Same angle as Panel 2, except Superman hovers with one arm akimbo, as the hip Metropolisian likes to call having one hand on his hip, which is hip, and the other applying lip balm to his perfectly honed alien lips, which might be less hip.

SUPERMAN:  
You know, my Kryptonian blood and Earth's yellow sun grant me resistance to chapped lips.

SUPERMAN:  
I do, however, appreciate the glossy sheen and cherry flavor.

BATMAN:  
I know, right?

**PAGE FOUR** (Four Panels)

Panel 1. Operator gives a skeptical look.

OPERATOR:  
Hold up. Batman's name is “Bruce?”

Panel 2. Batgirl nervously rubs the back of her head with one hand and waves dismissively with the other at the easily dismissed notion of The Batman having a perfectly normal civilian name.

BATGIRL:  
No! What!? Ha ha! No!

BATGIRL:  
I just thought it would be funny to give them funny normal funny civilian names.

Panel 3. Killer Frost strikes a dramatic pointing pose as she orders her hench-peeps to advance on the intruders.

BATGIRL (OP):  
His secret identity is obviously “Battholomew Manchild." I mean, get real.

KILLER FROST:  
Intruders! Get them!

Panel 4. Batgirl and Operator bound over the barrels to bop some bad-guy noggins. Operator's gauntlets slide over her hands and form something along the lines of metal boxing gloves.

BATGIRL:  
Wow. Really?

OPERATOR:  
“Get them?” Uhh, cliché much?”

**PAGE FIVE** (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Batgirl and Operator bop and ka-pow the various hench-folk with ease and flair while Killer Frost gets angry and defensive.

KILLER FROST:  
Hey! It's not my fault! It's a hench-people thing!

KILLER FROST:  
They're trained to follow certain key phrases, like “Don't let them escape!” and “Take her to my chambers!”

Panel 2. Wide angle of the skirmish as Batgirl and Operator dispatch the minions of darkness through the use of fisticuffs. One hench-individual comes up behind Operator, seemingly unnoticed.

BATGIRL:  
I guess their handbook hasn't been updated in a while.

BATGIRL:  
You can still order them to get you an “Iced Tea”, right? Huh? _Huh?_

OPERATOR:  
Don't make puns. Don't be that girl.

Panel 3. Batgirl notices Operator's encroaching assailant preparing to grab her from behind and gets ready to throw a batarang to intercept.

BATGIRL:  
Who are you who are so adverse to base comedy?

Panel 4. Operator raises her fist without looking and strikes the hench-being behind her in the nose with what has come to be known as the “Batman Punch,” seemingly validating her coming claim.

OPERATOR:  
I'm Batman.

Panel 5. Killer Frost prepares to engage in an assault of her own.

KILLER FROST:  
You're not Batman...

**PAGE SIX** (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Killer Frost unleashes a freeze blast that Batgirl and Operator narrowly dodge. I say narrowly because that incites tension. Tension is important to action scenes. I can action scene. I can action scene real good. You don't know me. You don't know what I've been through.

KILLER FROST (Burst):  
You're a dork!

Panel 2. Operator takes a knee and fires off a small projectile.

OPERATOR:  
Body Snatcher.

SFX:  
Ptunk!

Panel 3. Shot of the projectile streaking through the air.

Panel 4. Same angle as the projectile expands into a net, or whatever sort of binding contraption you deem to be more “creative” as you kids like to say with your newfangled “Stylizes” and your “Welcome Tablets.” In my day we had rock walls and our own blood. That was how we made comics.

Panel 5. Killer Frost shoots the “body snatcher” out of the air. That's what she thinks of your imagination. What're you gonna do about it?

KILLER FROST:  
Nope! Boring!

**PAGE SEVEN** (Three Panels)

Panel 1. Operator's gauntlets take on a decidedly more “energy canon” appearance as matter-sucking vortexes start to vacuum up

OPERATOR:  
H.G. Wells!*

SFX:  
Voormvoormvoorm!

CAPTION:  
*Hyper Gravity Wells. Not to be confused with iconic sci-fi writers.

Panel 2. Killer Frost loses her balance as she struggles against the powerful current of pseudo-science pulling at her from off-panel.

SFX:  
Voormvoormvoormvoorm!

KILLER FROST:  
What the $#@%?

Panel 3. Batgirl delivers a leaping kick to Killer Frost's noggin.

BATGIRL:  
Calling out my attack!*

SFX:  
Boot!

CAPTION:  
*Not to be confused with a good idea.

**PAGE EIGHT** (Five Panels)

Panel 1. Batgirl and Operator stand side-by side. Batgirl playfully jabs Operator in the shoulder as Operator adjusts her equipment.

BATGIRL:  
Way to "suck," Operator.

OPERATOR:  
I'm serious about the puns. End them, or I will.

Panel 2. Killer Frost nurses her aching head as she tries to prop herself up on the floor.

KILLER FROST:  
You really think a kick to the head is gonna stop Killer Frost?

Panel 3. Batgirl and Operator exchange knowing glances.

BATGIRL:  
Sedation?

OPERATOR:  
Sedation.

Panel 4. Close up from behind. Operator turns her head over her shoulder and talks to the device on her back, causing it to boot up.

OPERATOR:  
Sic her, Rossum.

ROSSUM:  
*Berp* *Wrrr*

Panel 5. Rossum the Universal Robot springs into the air above Operator.

ROSSUM:  
*Keerp* *Zzzzt*

**PAGE NINE** (Four Panels)

Panel 1. Rossum drops like a sack of robot on top of Killer Frost and pins her to the ground.

KILLER FROST:  
Ooph! Get off me!

KILLER FROST:  
Don't you touch me!

Panel 2. Close up on Rossum as a little nozzle comes into view.

KILLER FROST (OP):  
What're you doing? Don't you do it!

Panel 3. Rossum emits a colorful fog into Killer Frost's face, causing her to blink sleepily.

KILLER FROST:  
Don't you--!

ROSSUM:  
Blorp

Panel 4. Same angle as Killer Frost loses consciousness and drops her head to the ground.

**PAGE TEN** (Six Panels)

Panel 1.

BATGIRL:  
I had no idea you were such a sci-fi nerd.

OPERATOR:  
I, like many a prolific genius before me, have been burdened with an overabundance of time to sit on my butt.

OPERATOR:  
Fiction helps.

Panel 2. Operator starts to lose balance as her legs give out.

BATGIRL:  
I'd call that a pretty satisfying field test though. Good work.

OPERATOR:  
They're Qadir's designs. They just need my signature programming to work.

Panel 3. Operator falls to her hands and knees in pain.

OPERATOR:  
Aaaaaaand, maybe a better power supply.

BATGIRL:  
Oh no! Are you okay!?

Panel 4. Operator stares at the ground in front of her in frustration over her apparent weakness as Rossum scurries back up her back.

OPERATOR:  
I can reroute Rossum's power to the braces. This is too much gear to carry on my own in my...

OPERATOR:  
You know... _condition_.

OPERATOR (Whisper):  
I swear I'm not a liability.

Panel 5. Batgirl leans over and places her hand on her friend's shoulder to comfort her.

BATGIRL:  
I never said you were. We'll get you home and figure out an energy solution.

Panel 6. Batgirl stands up and looks over the mess of the warehouse.

BATGIRL:  
Right after we figure out what Killer Frost was up to.

CAPTION:  
To never be concluded!


End file.
